Usability of an Online Intervention Programme for Teachers of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

ABSTRACT

Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often present with behavioural, academic, and social challenges for which teachers may not have adequate training. The purpose of this study was to assess the usability of an online intervention designed for use by classroom teachers of students with ASD. [Teacher Help for Autism SpectrumDisorder (ASD)] was developed as a module within our larger [Teacher Help] program. Classroom teachers, ASD support professionals, and ASD advocates with lived experience were given access to the [Teacher Help for ASD] module and asked to review and assess each session. This included completing a modified version of a questionnaire based on Morville’s User Experience Honeycomb and answering questions about readiness for use, completeness of information, and willingness to recommend the module to classroom teachers. Descriptive statistics showed that participants believed the module was useful, usable, desirable, valuable, accessible, and credible. Additionally, participants rated the module’s features and appearance positively and believed it was ready for use, had all the information they expected, and reported they would recommend the program to classroom teachers. As such, we believe that this module has the potential to be used by classroom teachers to support students with ASD.

KEYWORDS:

• Autism spectrum disorder
• education
• online intervention
• professional development
• teachers
• usability

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge [Teacher Help for ASD] for his feedback on the article. We also thank our participants for reviewing the [Teacher Help for ASD] module.

Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the CIHR eHealth Innovation Partnership Programme [CIHR EHI 143552, 2016];Canadian Institutes of Health Research [CIHR EHI 143552, 2016];